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Screening:
testing or checking to see if a person is healthy or sick
CDC Original Sentences:
Cervical cancer is the easiest female cancer to prevent, with regular screening tests and follow-up.
Plain Language Sentences:
Regular tests to find cervical cancer make it the easiest female cancer to catch early.
NOTE: Program should say how often "regular" is.
Entry Last Modified 18 May 2017
Seek:
get, ask for, see, look for
CDC Original Sentences:
Travelers who become ill with a fever or flu-like illness either while traveling in a malaria-risk area or after returning home (for up to 1 year) should seek immediate medical attention and should tell the physician their travel history.
Plain Language Sentences:
Travelers who get a fever or flu-like sickness while in an area with malaria or within a year after returning should see a doctor immediately. They should tell the doctor they were in an area with malaria.
Entry Last Modified 7 November 2016
Severe:
strong, serious, harmful, dangerous, very bad
CDC Original Sentences:
It can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death.
Plain Language Sentences:
The flu can make you a little sick or very sick. For example, you may only have a cough and runny nose, or you may get something like a lung infection. The flu can even kill you.
Entry Last Modified 7 November 2016
Stakeholders:
a person or group with an interest or concern in something
CDC Original Sentences:
If you've followed the social marketing process thus far, you should have a good idea of who your stakeholders are.
Plain Language Sentences:
If you've followed the social marketing process so far, you should have a good idea of the groups interested in your organization.
Entry Notes: It's better to be specific about the groups you mean.
Entry Last Modified 29 September 2017
Surveillance:
collecting or gathering of information
CDC Original Sentences:
Occupational surveillance data are used to guide efforts to improve worker safety and health, and to monitor trends and progress over time.
Plain Language Sentences:
We gather information from places where people work so we can improve worker safety and health.
Entry Last Modified 7 November 2016
Sustain:
keep going over time, support, encourage
CDC Original Sentences:
Mobilize and sustain support for TB elimination by engaging policy and opinion leaders, health care providers, affected communities, and the public.
Plain Language Sentences:
We need policy and opinion leaders, health care providers, and communities that have suffered because of tuberculosis to keep working together to get rid of TB.
Entry Last Modified 7 November 2016
If you do audience testing of these words or other public health or medical words, please send your results to the health literacy staff in CDC’s Office of Communications at clearcommunication@cdc.gov.
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